


Lying Safe Within Your Arms

by flickawhip



Category: Home Fires (UK TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 08:43:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12884217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flickawhip/pseuds/flickawhip
Summary: Steph finds love with a Land Girl.AU as hell.





	Lying Safe Within Your Arms

“Steph...”

Steph turns, smiling even as she speaks. If someone had told her that a bright young thing from somewhere in Wales would bowl her over so completely she would have laughed but then... 

“Megan...”

Megan wasn’t your usual land girl. She was bright, friendly and had an easy-going manner that seemed to help everyone like her. Megan had started out as help for Mim and Bryn, then, as the two had managed to settle the twins into a routine, she had moved on. Alison had, at first, seemed sure that the girl would be needed to help Teresa, then when Teresa proved to be alright, she had been sure she didn’t need help and the girl had been passed around the village, proving to hate working with Jenny, and unable to stand spending too long being bossed around. Finally, the girl had taken a chance, arriving at Steph’s in her oldest overalls with a steady smile and a will to work. 

Steph smiles at Megan again, unaware how amused Megan is by the way she responds, she doesn’t need to know. Megan smiles, moving to join her. She knows that she will be needed today and she has made a point to come early, and ready to work. 

“So, what fresh hell waits today then?”

Megan’s steady manner brings a smile even as Steph replies. 

“Well, we need to get more hay out the loft...”

“Didn’t your Stan do that?”

“He’s a kid...”

Megan laughs slightly.

“So you need more?”

“Yes... please.”

Megan laughs again. 

“Maybe next time your Stan can work in a field, leave the hay to me?”

“Maybe...”

“So you bringing a barrow?”

Megan is almost teasing now even as she moves into the barn, quick to get herself into position, dragging a hay-fork with her. She waits until Steph calls up, quick to thrown down hay, making a point to miss Steph each time. Slowly but surely the barrow is filled and Steph moves away, she soon returns with a second barrow, which is just as easily filled. 

She knows, by now, that Megan works herself to exhaustion, and she smiles as she moves away. She won’t bring a third barrow, she doesn’t need to. The two hay loads are enough for now, they can gather more when it is needed. 

Megan emerges, smoothing down her shirt and overalls, moving down the ladder and out, although she smiles when she finds Steph in the field. 

“Something else need doing?”

“It can wait...”

“Steph...”

Megan sighs slightly. 

“Look, the hay in the field needs fetching, is Stan doing it?”

“No, he’s working on the cows...”

“He likes them then?”

“He’s a good boy.”

Megan smirks slightly, almost teasingly.

“Of course he is... but he doesn’t exactly have much strength, does he?”

“Are you laughing at him?”

Megan snorts slightly, then speaks softly. 

“Steph, the lad can’t help it... I’d never laugh at him, you know that.”

Megan moves away, taking a wheelbarrow with her, she knows she’ll need it for the hay bales she needs to fetch in. She returns later, just before the time Steph and her son usually took breaks for lunch. Stan has returned to the house, Steph smiles slightly, raising a hand to welcome Megan back from the field. Despite herself, and her frustration with the other woman, Megan smiles as she responds with her own smile and raised hand. She puts away the bale, and the barrow, making to head back out to the field to see what they have left, not quite expecting to be called for a lunch, she usually brought her own, although she hadn’t needed to today, she had quite expected to be free to head back to where she had been staying, just outside the village. She had been slightly startled when Stan had called her into the kitchen, although she knew better than to refuse. 

“You didn’t have to feed me you know...”

She can’t help the soft reproach, she knows how often Steph chooses to go without to feed her son instead, although, thankfully, that had lessened of late. She hadn’t quite told Steph that she had been feeding the boy herself, trying to help him gain a little strength. 

“I wanted to.”

Stan had smiled slightly, letting the comment go. He had paused on his way out the kitchen, however, giving his mother a look before continuing out to the field and cows, taking the bucket with him. 

Steph had been silent since Stan left the room, watching Megan eat before finally speaking.

“Don’t you miss your family?”

“What family?”

A hardness came into the girl’s tone and Steph instantly regretted her question. 

“I... didn’t mean...”

“It’s not a problem...”

Megan speaks quickly, lightly, a clear lie in her voice.

“Megan...”

“Steph... please...”

Megan turns to look at Steph, then, reading the look in the other woman’s eyes, sighs.

“Just leave it... you don’t want to know.”

“I do.”

The silence falls again and Megan moves away, stopping only when Steph’s hand closes around her wrist. She pulls away, instinct making her pull free, a flinch clear even as she turns, fear suddenly bright in her eyes. 

“Don’t. Don’t do that...”

“Sorry.”

Megan says nothing more, making to leave. 

“Megan...”

Steph’s voice shakes.

“I...”

Megan turns again, her eyes locking with Steph’s, her words catching in her throat, Steph looking down, then away, suddenly silent. 

“Steph...”

Megan crosses the floor then, quick, lengthy, strides, her fear bright in her eyes even as she moves to reach for Steph, her touch light, then faltering, her hand falling away, embarrassment bright in her eyes. 

“What... what is it?”

“Megan...”

Steph’s voice near breaks, her voice softer when she next speaks. 

“When Stan... when I... You know I’m... Never mind.”

Steph makes to turn and Megan quickly takes her wrist, pulling her to a stop.

“Steph... tell me...”

“Why?”

“Why? Steph...”

Megan sighs then speaks softly.

“When I... when I left Wales... I left such a mess behind. I swore to myself I’d never let myself care... let myself love... anyone...”

“Megan...”

“No. You want to know why? You want to know why I want to know? Because, Stephanie bloody Farrow... you make everything... everything... less terrifying... everything less sodding dark. You make me want to care... you make me want to... to be brave.”

Megan falls silent, then finally speaks again.

“When I ran from Wales, from... my family, my ex... from everything else? I didn’t think I had anything left to give. I thought... I thought they had taken... everything... from me... and then, I came here... I met... I met Mim, and Bryn, Erica and Alison and I wondered... I began to hope I could find a home here... and then I met you... and Stan. I knew Stan was a smart lad, a kind lad, someone who had to have had a good dad... and a mother who didn’t think less of him for being himself... and then I met you... properly. I worked with you. I started to let down every defence I’d built up... I started to let you in without even knowing it... that’s why.”

Silence had fallen, then, finally, she had spoken one last time. 

“I wanted... so much... not to love you... but I couldn’t stop myself... and... now you know? Now you finally know? You won’t want me... and I... wish I could say it didn’t hurt...”

“Megan...”

Steph’s breath catches and she sighs.

“The reason I keep running away? The reason I don’t want to let you in? I let someone else in before... I let Stan’s father in, I let myself fall in love and... all I got was my life torn apart... when Stan died... I thought... I swore... I didn’t want to love you either...”

“Then I’ll...”

“No.”

Steph speaks quickly, her fingers brushing Megan’s, a request to stay.

“Please... don’t.” 

“Steph... you don’t even know me... or what my ex did...”

“I’m not her Megan...”

Steph speaks softly, fiercely. 

“I won’t... I won’t do what she did. I won’t trap you, or keep you prisoner... or do whatever it was she did to you that makes you so...”

“Broken.”

“No...”

Steph smiles slightly.

“No, not broken... just a little fragile sometimes.”

She moves closer, her fingers brushing through Megan’s hair, pushing it from her eyes. Megan startles her, capturing her hand, brushing a light kiss over her palm, her smile shy, and sweet. It was almost a promise. 

“You... aren’t afraid then?”

Megan asks, finally letting go of her hand. 

“Of what?”

“Me...”

“No... Are you afraid of me?”

“No.”

Megan smiles, her voice soft.

“For once... I’m not afraid...”

Silence falls then, Megan smiling again at how shyly Steph reaches for her, clearly tentative. She steps closer, letting Steph’s hands come to rest on her shirt, her own moving so she has a grip on Steph.

“Last chance to run...”

Megan warns, then dips her head, just slightly, to capture Steph’s lips with her own, her hands moving to Steph’s back, pulling her closer, the two slowly falling into one another. Megan is smiling softly when she finally pulls back. 

“Steph...”

“Megan...”

“Your son... could find us anytime...”

“I could... tell him to... leave for a while?”

“Or we could try... asking him if he’d mind if I... moved in?”

Steph smiles slightly.

“Really?”

“Really...”

It takes them days to get confident. Megan moves in, slightly nervously, aware that at least some of the village may be talking. The three of them, Stan and Steph and Megan, find a pace of life, and work, that works for them. Stan is aware what is happening, and what they feel for one another, neither woman has really tried to hide it. He also knows that, eventually, they may move from simply living together to something more. 

Steph is content, for now, to let herself relax in the same bed as Megan. Megan’s guard is finally beginning to drop and she no longer flinches from un-expected contact. The two of them are falling deeper into one another and their love. 

Steph smiles as Megan pulls her closer, letting herself enjoy the warmth of the other woman. She is aware, suddenly, that she is crying, and tries desperately to pull back, finding herself held closer, Megan’s touch light as she brushes away the tears, tilting Steph’s chin just enough that she could kiss her. 

“Never hide from me...”

Her voice is soft, tender even. 

“Never be ashamed... to cry... or laugh... or anything else you feel.”

She speaks with sweetness, her lips soft against Steph’s own, light but full of promise. 

“Megan...”

“Shhh.”

Megan smiles softly, kissing her again. 

“Just trust me...”

“I do.”

Steph is aware how soft her voice is.

“I... haven’t let anyone see me cry since... before I can even remember...”

Megan smiles slightly, sweetly even. 

“Well, I’m glad you did.”

She speaks almost gently. 

“You’ll always be able to let me in Steph, I’m not afraid... not of you, or anything you feel.”

Steph sighs, then curls closer, trying to let herself sleep. Megan, in reply, smiles as she kisses Steph’s forehead, content, for now, just to relax. They both knew that, one day, things would go from sweet, almost tender, to something far more honest and open and... demanding. 

Neither of them had expected this, but they knew that here, together, they were safe.


End file.
